Documenting the Old Sharjah Planetarium with the Sharjah Art Foundation

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates — Planetariums are special places — taking you on a journey through the universe, and immortalized in films “Rebel Without a Cause” with the Griffith Observatory.

So I eagerly joined the “Architectural Photography Workshop at the Old Sharjah Planetarium” by the Sharjah Art Foundation, where we snapped photos mostly of the exterior of the building. In this gallery, I’ve highlighted the stark geometric lines while also placing the building in the context of the human body.

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One step inside, with some immersive Sharjah Biennal audio-visual installations, and you realize that it was never a real planetarium — somehow the ceiling would light up with stars.

There’s surprisingly little information on the building’s history. Organizers told us it was a coast guard building in Egypt, and then transferred here sometime after the Camp David Accords in 1978. It was later converted into a planetarium.

Now in a desolate parking lot, the Old Sharjah Planetarium faces an uncertain future due to road widening and the recent opening of a stunning new planetarium in University City of Sharjah.